Fly ash dump in Chesapeake has history of leaks

Aug 19 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Jeff Sheler The Virginian-Pilot

Dominion Virginia Power's plan to close its coal-fired power plant on the Elizabeth River would leave nearly a million tons of fly ash in a waste dump that has leaked arsenic and other contaminants into groundwater for more than a decade, company documents show.

City officials and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality are reviewing the plan, which outlines steps the company says it is prepared to take to seal 973,400 tons of coal combustion byproducts stored at the site.

Meanwhile, the City Council is expected to vote today on restrictions that would require Dominion to obtain a city permit to continue storing coal ash at the site after the plant is shuttered.

The restrictions are aimed at preventing a repeat of Duke Energy's coal ash spill this year in North Carolina, according to city leaders. That spill occurred when a stormwater pipe collapsed under an ash pond, sending thousands of tons of toxic sludge into the Dan River.

Dominion announced in 2011 that it planned to decommission its Chesapeake Energy Center by the end of 2016 because of the high costs of meeting new environmental standards. In July, the company said the plan had been moved up to the end of this year.

The plant has operated at the waterfront site since 1953.

In 1985, Dominion built a 22-acre landfill and 9-acre sedimentation pond for disposal of coal-combustion byproducts generated at the site. While the landfill was lined with polyethylene, it was built over an older and unlined ash pond.

Since 1994, monitoring of wells at the site have repeatedly detected arsenic and other pollutants in groundwater at levels exceeding government safety standards.

Company reports to the state Department of Environmental Quality obtained by The Virginian-Pilot showed that arsenic in one well in 2006 was 40 times the standard. Results in May 2013 and April 2014 showed levels 30 times the standard.

Levels of cobalt and sulfide also exceeded government standards. Other pollutants, including barium, beryllium, lead, selenium and zinc, were detected at "significant levels above background."

The company has been operating since 2002 under a state-approved corrective action plan that relies on monitoring and "natural attenuation" to dissipate the pollutants through natural absorption. The plan was updated in 2011.

A Department of Environmental Quality spokesman said periodic reports since then have shown that arsenic and other contaminants "are being reduced through natural attenuation, and this is considered satisfactory."

Dominion's closure plan calls for covering the landfill and adjacent ash pond with a synthetic barrier liner, a drainage layer and 18 inches of top soil. A company spokesman said the enclosure would be "in accordance with state and local regulations."

Construction of the cap would begin in March and be completed in October at an estimated cost of $4.3 million. The company would continue to monitor and maintain the site for 10 years.

The plan was compiled for Dominion in April by Golder Associates, a Richmond-based consulting firm. A copy was sent to the Department of Environmental Quality in June and to the city on July 30.

Before he received the plan, City Manager James Baker said conversations with the company had left him with the "impression... that they intended to eventually remove the fly ash as part of their decommissioning activities."

City spokesman Mark Cox said it will take some time to review the plan. "That review can't really begin until the council takes action" on the proposed regulation, he said.

The restrictions would require any company that produces coal-combustion byproducts to obtain a conditional use permit to continue storing the material after production ceases.

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